FBI declines to take total control of Shermantine/Herzog case

Agency to split cost of dig with Sheriff's Office

FRENCH CAMP - As originally planned, the FBI and San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office will split the costs of an upcoming excavation aimed at recovering potential victims of two serial killers, and the FBI's lab will test any remains recovered.

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By The Record

recordnet.com

By The Record

Posted Nov. 10, 2012 at 12:01 AM

By The Record
Posted Nov. 10, 2012 at 12:01 AM

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FRENCH CAMP - As originally planned, the FBI and San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office will split the costs of an upcoming excavation aimed at recovering potential victims of two serial killers, and the FBI's lab will test any remains recovered.

Thursday, Sheriff Steve Moore requested the federal agency consider taking on 100 percent of the costs when the agencies dig for victims of Loren Herzog and Wesley Shermantine in Linden. The issue was raised after Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani said at an October San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors meeting the FBI would be open to paying for the entire dig if Moore asked them to.

The FBI officially declined the request in a letter to Moore on Friday, saying in it they'd told Galgiani on Oct. 31 that they would not take over the investigation.

"We are going to maintain our 50-50 relationship with the Sheriff's Office," said Gina Swankie, public information officer for the FBI. "We will take the lead on the recovery effort, and our lab will make the identifications if any remains are recovered."

In February, the Sheriff's Office recovered roughly 1,000 bone fragments from a well off Flood Road. Those remains were tested by the California Department of Justice and identified as Kimberly Billy, 19, and JoAnn Hobson, 16. Authorities also recovered the remains of an unidentified woman between the ages of 16 and 18 and a fetus.

Eight months ago, the FBI and Sheriff's Office began working together on handling any future excavations. In October, Moore requested the Board of Supervisors approve a $126,900 contract with Drill Tech Drilling & Shoring Inc. to excavate land in Linden where remains of additional victims of the pair could be found.

The money comes from the budget of the Sheriff's Office, specifically from cash saved by not filling current vacancies within the department. The FBI says it will split the costs of the excavation contract with the Sheriff's Office.

Moore said the Sheriff's Office requested the FBI consider paying for the dig in an effort to exhaust all options in recovering victims of Herzog and Shermantine.

The duo, both natives of San Joaquin County, terrorized the area over a series of decades with a methamphetamine-fueled killing spree. Both men were convicted on multiple homicide counts in 2001.

Shermantine remains incarcerated on death row. Herzog hanged himself earlier this year while on parole after learning Shermantine intended to disclose previously unknown burial sites.

Swankie did not disclose where or when the dig would take place or how authorities settled on the location. Those details will be released as the excavation date draws closer, she said.